What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof.

Christopher Hitchens (1949 - 2011) was an Anglo-American author and journalist. His books made him a prominent public intellectual and a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits. He was a columnist and literary critic at Vanity Fair, Slate, The Atlantic, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry and a variety of other media outlets. He was named one of the world's "Top 100 Public Intellectuals" by Foreign Policy and Britain's Prospect.

This question was put directly to the audience of the Munk Debates on Religion both before and after they listened to a debate on the issue between former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, arguing in favour of the resolution AND bestselling author, journalist and literary critic Christopher Hitchens, arguing against the resolution.

Prior to the debate, 25% of the 2,600 audience members agreed with the resolution, while 55% disagreed and 20% were undecided. Immediately following the debate, agreement with the resolution had risen to 32% while disagreement with the resolution had risen to 68%.

About This Study

This poll was conducted for the Munk Debates (www.munkdebates.com) by Innovative Research Group, Inc. (www.innovativeresearch.ca), a national public opinion research firm on Friday, November 26th, 2010.
Prior to the start of the debate, members of the audience at the Munk Debates on Religion were asked to fill out a ballot where they indicated whether they agreed or disagreed with the resolution or were undecided. Ballots were collected and the results recorded using Scantron readers.
After the debate concluded, the audience was again asked to fill out a ballot where they indicated whether they still agreed or disagreed with the resolution. In the post debate ballot, the undecided option was not provided. Again, the ballots were collected and results recorded using Scantron readers. See detailed findings below for the ballot question wording and results.
The results of this poll are based on ballots collected among spectators at the Munk Debates on Religion.

DETAILED FINDINGS

Pre-Debate Ballot

QUESTION #1
Be it resolved, religion is a force for good in the world.
AGREE - 25%
DISAGREE - 55%
UNDECIDED – 20%

QUESTION #2
Depending on what you hear during the debate are you open to changing your vote?
YES - 76%
NO - 24%

Post-Debate Ballot

QUESTION #1
Be it resolved, religion is a force for good in the world.
AGREE - 32%
DISAGREE - 68%

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty writer James Kirchick recently interviewed Hitchens at his home in Washington about his left-wing revolutionary past, his views on America, Iran's nuclear program, Turkey's Islamist turn, Putin's Russia, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and sampled his views on a variety of international figures.